…that not too many of us are talking about: Cooperative Program 2.57% ahead of year-to-date projection NASHVILLE (BP) — Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist national and international missions and ministries received by the SBC Executive Committee are 2.57 percent above the year-to-date SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget projection and 2.09 percent above contributions received during […]
What I wish for my hardworking pastor colleagues…
…is that after they have been at their present church for a stretch of years they would be given a sabbatical. Various SBC outlets regularly, though not frequently, promote the idea that pastors should take sabbaticals. The latest that I have seen came from Michael Lewis, NAMB’s Executive Director of Pastoral Care and Development in […]
“Our church has a marketing committee…”
…so I thought it would be interesting to speculate on the phrase that could have followed that statement: (a) “…can you believe that!” (b) “…for crying out loud!” (c) “…and I don’t know what the church is coming to.” (d) “…great God Almighty!” (e) “…our pastor is such a forward-looking man of wisdom and insight.” […]
Do you know much about Baptist Global Response?
One of the more recent creations connected with Southern Baptist life is Baptist Global Response. Although it was created in 2006 and has almost a decade of history, I never hear much about it but the reason for that might be that I don’t get all the usual mailings that go to Southern Baptist churches. […]
“Well, I sometimes get mad…”
…so the prospective pastor told the search committee in answer to the second of the pair of questions that every search committee asks. The first question was, “What is your strong point?” “Preaching, I suppose” answered the candidate. Fair enough. The man might indeed be Spurgeon or he might be unable to preach his way […]
Divorce, teens, baptism, and tongues in the IMB’s new appointment policies
Count me as one who believes in our International Mission Board, trusts their judgment about personnel, and appreciates their work. There has not been a time that I have been a pastor (or semi-retired pastor) that I have not prayed for, participated in, and given to the work of the IMB. I can be considered […]
Annual Meeting housekeeping, by-law changes
It’s not looking like I will make the annual meeting in Columbus but a few housekeeping matters concerning SBC bylaws will be on the agenda anyway. 1. Electronic Voting…the SBC dragged into the 21st Century. The punch card ballots used all these years at the annual meetings (“Take out your ballots and tear off ballot number […]
Nazi Germany, Jim Crow and civil dialogue
I sometimes wonder if constructive dialogue is possible on the hot button issues of the day. It looks to me as if not but, perhaps, I am reading opinions and discussions in all the wrong places. Who would argue that the volatility index for discussion of white hot cultural and racial issues is not in […]
Best retirement advice I ever received
I’ve always paid attention to the matter of retirement and retirement income. When GuideStone or the state convention sent a guy around to speak to the pastor’s conference or to an associational meeting, I was present and paying attention. When I reached the age (I think it was 55) where I received an invitation to […]
Lost in the blogging black hole: Cooperative Program is up
Lost, swamped, overwhelmed by white hot discussions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, by debate about whether or not elder rule practitioner and SBC Pastor’s Conference invitee James MacDonald made a proper apology for calling congregational governance “satanic”, and by other weighty matters is this little item that directly affects tens of thousands of Southern […]
The Christian butcher, baker, and wedding picture maker
Should Christians who by reason of belief and conscience discriminate against same sex couples be held liable under non-discrimination laws or should there be an exception made in order to uphold their First Amendment religious liberty rights? Though none of the occupations (I added the butcher for obvious literary reasons) are mentioned in the recent […]
The “ideal” Cooperative Program division between state and national
Our venerable Cooperative Program now in its tenth decade and while somewhat diminished in percentages and sums from earlier times, is still a mammoth funding engine without which the SBC at the state convention and national levels would be unrecognizable. In my several decades of pastoral hacking and plodding in the SBC hinterlands I […]